Pelagic Of The Century

Port Fairy Pelagic - May 29th 2016

Well done it doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it's worth writing about! This particularly boat trip is the kind of trip you dream about but think will never actually happen. Lucky for the 14 birders aboard the Perceive we had the chance to partake in what was arguable one of Victoria's best ever pelagic trips.

In a last minute effort to get at least a third trip out in the first six months of the year, Neil Macumber of Birdswing Birding & Wildlife Tours organised a last minute trip for the last Sunday of the May. Given that I hadn't been on a boat since January due to work commitments I put my hand straight up, keen to rectify my lack of land/sea ratio. May trips traditionally paint a picture of what kind of Winter season we can expect off Victoria's SW seas. Last year around this time Victoria had a variety of whale-birds and other winter goodies so the expectations were high! The week prior had been extremely wet and stormy - complimented with a healthy dose of southerlies blowing up a gale. Anything could be in the area, now it was time to getting looking!

We departed right on 7.00am, still when it was too dark to see anything. But by 7.30am it was finally light enough to start identifying the first few fly by species. We were only a hop skip and a jump away from the mainland when we started to see our first pelagic species as a few Wilson's Storm Petrel and Fairy Prion danced past the boat and an adult Shy Albatross wheeled past in the distance. Amazingly, the Fairy Prion numbers continued all the way out the shelf, I would estimate we passed at least a hundred by the time the boat stopped. Disappointingly, no whale-birds were seen in their accompaniment. We also enjoyed a quick fly by from an Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross, a rather determined Northern Giant Petrel and just before we pulled up, a party of 4 Little Penguin were spotted floating on the surface.

​Arriving at the shelf, it was time to get burleying. Things had quietened down by now so it took a little while to get the numbers of birds up around the boat. As expected the first species in were Shy Albatross following quickly by the first Great-winged Petrel for the day. Slowly the Fairy Prion began to return and we had our first Wandering Albatross and Black-browed Albatross. The Wandering was a reasonably large bird and plumage seems to suggest Antipodean but some lengthy wandering discussions will confirm this in time. It was one of either five or six birds that we came in close contact in over the course of the day.

And then things got really exciting...

First views

On the water

Soaring

Keeping an eye out from the side of the boat I suddenly noticed an albatross coming in from the distance which what appeared to be a completely dark head. Immediately I thought it either had to be a Chatham or Grey-headed Albatross but as it finally wheeled in and showed the almost black underneath there was no doubting this was a juvenile Grey-headed Albatross. Calling it out, I could almost feel the boat slightly tip to the left as the weight of 14 individuals ran to one side. Through the binoculars the bird was stunning, the dark grey appearing almost like velvet as it ran into the black of the wings. The bird performed extremely well soaring around the boat in great wheels before settling on the water to have a feed!

With all the attention on the Grey-headed Albatross, we almost missed what happened next! Thanks to Scott Baker's ever-keen eye, the call went up for "Sooty Albatross!" from down the slick. A quick look through the binoculars revealed that he was of course right, but further more, there were in fact two and one of them was a Light-mantled Albatross! And in a short 5 minute period, it had gone from a fairly average pelagic to possibly one of the best trips since the early nineties! Three mega rare albatross all within a single view just out the back of the boat! The last record for Light-mantled Albatross is off Port Fairy from November 2002! The last record for Grey-headed Albatross from a boat was September 2004 also off Port Fairy.

Unfortunately the Light-mantled Albatross took one good look at the boat before disappearing off into the distance. Brief looks and photos revealed that this was in fact a young bird, whilst the Sooty was a full adult that spun around the boat half a dozen times before departing also. Soon the Sooty's had both disappeared off into the distance but the Grey-headed remained for at least another ten minutes - continuing to land and feed in front of all the photographers.

Wandering Albatross

Light-mantled Albatross

Sooty Albatross

The albatross continued to perform as we were graced with a number of Wandering type Albatross sitting around the boat. Soon Philip Peel spotted the first (and newly split!) Grey-faced Petrel for the day as well as the first Campbell Albatross. The birds were coming thick and fast and in all the haste, I was expected almost anything to come in following our earlier successes. Over the next hour or so we were treated to a handful of Cape Petrel, Grey-backed Storm Petrel and a handful more Fairy Prion and Shy Albatross.

Soon enough the birding quietened down and it was time to try a little further out before heading home. At the next spot, it took a while to get the birds going but when the did, it really fired up! Soon we had a second Sooty Albatross, 2 more Wandering type Albatross and second Light-mantled Albatross! Thankfully this Light-mantled stayed in a view a bit longer, and most on board were able to enjoy more substantial views of this sub-adult bird.

With these significant winter specialities, Sue Taylor commented ​that it was similar to an Eaglehawk Neck pelagic and that any second a Grey Petrel, Southern Fulmar or Blue Petrel may appear. Suddenly I heard from crying from the opposite side of the boat. "What is that?" people called. I raised my binoculars and as predicted moments before by Sue called "Blue Petrel!" The seabird came barrelling in and fed amongst the prions in the slick providing excellent views for all on board. Scott Baker also picked out a trio of probable White-fronted Tern diving way at the back of the slick.

Blue Petrel

Blue Petrel

Happy Twitchers

As a final day highlight, we watched the first Fluttering Shearwater and Hutton's Shearwater feed as we approached shore. Suddenly the call went up and an Arctic Tern was picked out of a mixed flock of Australian Gannet and Greater Crested Tern! Wowza!​I had woken up in the backseat of my car at 6.40am with 554 species on my Australia List and in only a few sweet hours I was no sitting on 556! It is by no means exaggerated when referring to this trip as exceptional. Species such as the Grey-headed Albatross and Light-mantled Albatross hadn't been recorded in Victoria in over a decade, whilst Sooty Albatross, Arctic Tern and Blue Petrel are all rare species recorded less than annually. While we may not have attracted a mega rarity such as an Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross or Westland Petrel, we had affectively ticked off some of the state's rarest winter visitors all in a single day trip.

​It was clearly an exceptional day for pelagics off Australia's south coast as both Eaglehawk Neck (TAS) and Port Mac (SA) all recorded similar species. I was just glad to be a part of it all, learn something new and share in the excitement of excellent day in Victoria's southern seas! Looking forward to getting out in July, who knows what we'll see!